Smith: Valdosta a city of rich traditions, especially football

VALDOSTA | This enterprising community of more than 50,000 has earned an inordinate amount of recognition for several things over the years, most of all the success of its local football teams.

Today, it is famous for its manufacturing of wakeboards. George W. Bush, who became president of the United States, underwent flight training at nearby Moody Air Force Base which opened in 1941. One day in the late '90s, a former Georgia quarterback Tom Lewis took me for a ride in an F-16 at Moody. I don’t have a bucket list, but that was one of more thrilling and enriching experiences ever. To see a man and a machine perform with such precision was simply sensational. It brought about such great regard for the military. Seeing the flight crew’s work to make sure every detail was checked and rechecked was uplifting. The efficiency and harmony of the team was overwhelming.

The world’s second Coca-Cola bottling plant opened here in 1897, which enabled a lot of locals to add bourbon which made for a popular drink, “Bourbon and Coke.” But a decade later, Valdosta went dry, owing to Prohibition laws. Legend has it that $10,000 worth of whiskey was sold on the last day before the law banning the sale of alcohol went into effect.

Valdosta was big in cotton in bygone days, with a history of production of long staple cotton which made Valdosta’s cotton highly marketable, leading to a 1910 Fortune story that Valdosta was the richest city in America “by per capita income.” Then came the boll weevil. Naval Stores became an important business along with timber. The coming of I-75 caused tourism to enhance the economy. Valdosta can lay claim to being a survivor.

Nothing is bigger than high school football in Valdosta and Lowndes County. Valdosta has won over 900 games. For years, they had to add on to their trophy case annually as the Wildcats won 24 state titles and 41 region championships. But the crowing statistic that makes locals push out their chest with fervor is that Valdosta has won six national championships. Lowndes, the county school, has not been too shabby since they came into existence. The Vikings have collected five state titles and Valwood, the private school, has won six state championships. Valdosta State has won three Division II national collegiate championships. This splendorous football tradition surely had something to do with ESPN, in 2008, naming Valdosta, “Titletown USA.”

There have been more than a handful of quarterbacks from Valdosta to achieve greatness at the next level, namely Buck Belue, who led Georgia to the collegiate national championship in 1980, and John Lastinger, who overcame the vicissitudes of the game and the position to end his career with one of the most memorable performances in Bulldog history.

Any red-and black aficionados with a bent for harking back to the past will recall John ‘s memorable option dash in the 1983 Cotton Bowl for 17 yards and a touchdown. Kevin Butler’s point after kick gave Georgia a 10-9 upset of the undefeated Longhorns and knocked them out of a chance to win the national championship. That remains a bitter topic in Austin, Texas.

All small towns are identified with successful and colorful characters. It would be difficult to imagine any address having a more colorful personality than the late Ellis Clary, who spent his life, for the most part, in baseball. He played for the old Washington Senators.

He wasn’t a great player, playing four years before becoming a coach for the Senators for 24 seasons and an equal number scouting for the team after it moved to Minneapolis-St. Paul. In his prime years as a player, Clary once batted leadoff against Cleveland’s Bob Feller who no-hit the Senators. Clary’s classic comment was that Feller was so fast, he appeared to be shaking hands with the catcher “with a white hoe handle.”

Likely, the most famous personality to come out of Valdosta was the legendary Doc Holiday, the dentist who moved west because of Consumption, which killed his mother, and became famous for gambling and gun slinging. Observing the enactment of the “Gunfight at O.K. Corral,” an amusing attraction in Tombstone, Ariz., in which Doc was a central player, is worth it. If you want to see where Doc is reputed to be buried (he was interred in a potter’s field and nobody is certain), there is a marker identifying his final resting place in Glennwood Springs, Colo.

You have to climb a steep mountain to get to the gravesite. If you make the trek, more than likely you will conclude once is enough. Valdosta, however, will always be worthy of an encore.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.